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Thanks Vlad. I've known some people who've been on meth, and it's not a good thing. I hope Sale gets support and treatment if he needs it, rather than just a suspension. It's a very blurry line between being addicted or not.

First, let me say that the episodes this season have generally been pretty good but that it is getting harder to watch Breaking Bad as Walter becomes more and more truly "the bad guy".

People like rooting for the bad guy when he is interesting but they don't really like rooting for the bad guy when he is just a bad guy. I'm not saying the showrunners are doing a poor job with the character. I think they are doing a great job showing his dissent. It is just that Walter just isn't a very nice person to watch and the "interesting" things he does now are usually motivated by very sinister and unlikable things. So you can't root for him any longer.

People like rooting for the bad guy when he is interesting but they don't really like rooting for the bad guy when he is just a bad guy. I'm not saying the showrunners are doing a poor job with the character. I think they are doing a great job showing his dissent. It is just that Walter just isn't a very nice person to watch and the "interesting" things he does now are usually motivated by very sinister and unlikable things. So you can't root for him any longer.

I don't think the writers want us to cheer for Walt anymore. Seriously, is anybody rooting for Walt anymore? I've lost my patience for Walt around the middle of season 4 (maybe earlier even). I was definitely on Team Gus in season 4. He's lost all sympathy- he's no longer selling meth for his family, he's doing it because he somehow ###### up a partnership a long time ago and he can't let it go.

I've absolutely loved Walt's descent into a desperate killer (because, let's face it, that's basically what he is right now). That doesn't mean I want him to succeed. The day Walter White dies will be one of the most cathartic episodes of TV I will ever watch.

The Rays tried the trick referenced in comment No. 11 with lefty James Houser following the 2007 season. He got hit with a 50-game suspension mid-season, served half of it but by virtue of being added to the 40-man roster that November, he became a "big leaguer" no longer subject to the minor league drug program or its penalties.

I can't see either Mad Men or Breaking Bad ending happily. Jesse might live but he'll be messed up for the rest of his life. Skylar too. Walt will probably blow up Hank & Marie before he himself is blown up.

Same goes for Mad Men (without the explosions). Don Draper, like Walter White, will continue to drag people into his pit of despair.

What bothers me about this whole issue is there are rules and procedures in place that allow the player to get a substance they are unsure of tested. There are measures to protect them and the organization for this EXACT situation. If you don’t know, you go to the trainers and you get the substance checked out. A player can’t trust a substance bought over the counter because Baseball’s testing scrutiny is more severe than the FDA’s. What normal humans walking on the street can consume, a player cannot not. Players are told this, time after time, in obnoxious, redundant meetings several times a season.

I can't see either Mad Men or Breaking Bad ending happily. Jesse might live but he'll be messed up for the rest of his life. Skylar too. Walt will probably blow up Hank & Marie before he himself is blown up.

Well, we already at some point in this season Walt gets banished for almost a year and then comes back to town with a rocket launcher in his trunk so something has to go kablooie this season and I think the final season will have Walt meeting his demise.

I don't know if Mad Men is going to end happily. Probably not but I doubt it will end badly either. It'll probably be some Sopranos like ending where we just see the characters going on with their life.

Meth is itself occasionally prescribed as a treatment for ADD, as Desoxyn; I've heard anecdotally that in that form it feels less like a high than Adderall, but it's extremely expensive and doctors are justifiably reluctant to prescribe it for other reasons.

Well, we already at some point in this season Walt gets banished for almost a year and then comes back to town with a rocket launcher in his trunk so something has to go kablooie this season and I think the final season will have Walt meeting his demise.

Don't think that's quite correct. The scene was showing one year ahead, nothing to do with "banishment" only that he's out of state at that point that he purchases a M60 (I thought, perhaps wrong). On the lamb more than likely considering the plates, his rough appearance.

AFAIK all adhd drugs (certainly adderol and vyvanse) break down in the body as amphetamine and so would show in drug testing as identical to meth.

I certainly hope that's not the case, what with me searching for a job while on medication for a raging case of ADHD. I'd prefer not to have to tell potential employers, "No, I don't do meth, that's a prescribed medication."

It seems like it could be true, though, and it wouldn't be difficult to prove the medication was prescribed. Just a pain in the butt.

The NY Times reported a year ago that a ton of these "natural" diet pills or supplements contain straight-up drugs. Even a lot of them that aren't skirting or afoul of regulations have amphetamine-like effects.

Given that I assume Stroman at least was looking to cut weight in advance of the draft, I would strongly bet it was a weight loss supplement that he bought over the counter.

People like rooting for the bad guy when he is interesting but they don't really like rooting for the bad guy when he is just a bad guy.

This is the fine line they have always walked with Dexter, as well.

One thing I've always thought would be fun in a kind of twisted way - what if Dexter had been around in Florida back when Aileen Wuernos ("Monster") was doing her thing? A string of dead guys would have started showing up - as usual, Dexter would have been ahead of the rest of the police on solving the case and identifying the killer - but then he would have realized that the guys Aileen was acing were low-lifes who were probably intent on raping or killing her. Dexter would have then concluded that she was also just "taking out the trash" as he refers to it. What to do, what to do? Does he ice her or does he let her essentially just keep being one of his lieutenants?

One thing I've always thought would be fun in a kind of twisted way - what if Dexter had been around in Florida back when Aileen Wuernos ("Monster") was doing her thing? A string of dead guys would have started showing up - as usual, Dexter would have been ahead of the rest of the police on solving the case and identifying the killer - but then he would have realized that the guys Aileen was acing were low-lifes who were probably intent on raping or killing her. Dexter would have then concluded that she was also just "taking out the trash" as he refers to it. What to do, what to do? Does he ice her or does he let her essentially just keep being one of his lieutenants?

I've only ever seen the first episode of Dexter, it kind of surprises me that this hasn't come up. Has Dexter not come across any killers he feels share his world view?

I've watched the first two seasons of Breaking Bad but had little interest in watching beyond that. Walter letting Jane die was the turning point for me. After that, I just didn't care about the characters, and the ridiculous implausibility of the show in general became too much to stomach.

Every month I have to request a paper prescription, and then I've got a short window of time to get it filled. I can't request it too soon, as they won't give it to me (or the insurance won't pay). If I wait too long, I run out. Then I forget to get it refilled (because, duh, I have ADD). Then (in at least one case) my doctor stops prescribing it because it's not showing up in my bloodstream. Well, no ####, dumbass; I haven't taken it in two weeks because I keep forgetting to get it filled.

I seriously had to switch doctors over that. Now I've got a reminder in Outlook on my work computer that pops every month so I remember to get it refilled at the right time.

The fact that I would have much less trouble getting Norco or Vicodin just makes me shake my head.

I've watched the first two seasons of Breaking Bad but had little interest in watching beyond that. Walter letting Jane die was the turning point for me. After that, I just didn't care about the characters, and the ridiculous implausibility of the show in general became too much to stomach.

Well, Breaking Bad is definitely a show about Bad People Doing Bad Things. Even the people I feel sympathy for in this show- Mike the Cleaner and Jessie, specifically- are pretty much horrible people. Jessie's a meth dealer and Mike is a professional killer.

So this is a misanthropic show, to be sure. Jane's death was one of the first signs that Walt was a horrible person, and I still think he's a horrible person, but I'm still emotionally invested in basically every main character.

I will agree that there is a degree of implausibility in Breaking Bad, but no more so than your average TV show. I'd give it a try again.

EDIT: At the very least, watch Breaking Bad for the performances. Giancarlo Esposito, Jonathan Banks, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and even Bob Odenkirk deliver some of the best performances you'll ever see on TV. The lighting & sets on this show are amazing too.

Mark, the show is beautifully shot, I'll give you that. Jane's death just seemed so out-of-character for Walt. Up until that point he was a decent guy just trying to make some money from his family and for his medical care. To me the change in personality was too sudden and drastic. The show tries to provide some justification for it (he did it out of concern for Jesse, I suppose) but it didn't seem plausible to me.

On top of that, there's no reason for Walt and Jesse not to be dead or in prison. They're incompetent and attract a tremendous amount of attention to themselves. And the show makes Albuquerque look like Ciudad Juarez.

Mark, the show is beautifully shot, I'll give you that. Jane's death just seemed so out-of-character for Walt. Up until that point he was a decent guy just trying to make some money from his family and for his medical care. To me the change in personality was too sudden and drastic. The show tries to provide some justification for it (he did it out of concern for Jesse, I suppose) but it didn't seem plausible to me.

Walt killing Jane was the first time he "broke bad," if you will. He had killed people in the past (Crazy 8, Tuco sort of), but this was the first time he did it for selfish reasons. He didn't want Jane going to the cops, and he didn't want to lose Jesse (and the money, and the meth) to Jane.

Considering what Walt's done since Jane's death, it's perfectly in line with his character arc. The Walter White from season 1 is *completely* different from the Walter White of season 5.

And my original point is that you don't need to cheer for Walter White to watch this show. Hell, anybody cheering for Walt at this point is probably a sociopath.

Don't think that's quite correct. The scene was showing one year ahead, nothing to do with "banishment" only that he's out of state at that point that he purchases a M60 (I thought, perhaps wrong). On the lamb more than likely considering the plates, his rough appearance.

Well, he was using a fake ID, driving an out of state car, and forgot that it was his birthday. Now it is possible that he didn't get banished but it seems likely to me he had to flee the state for awhile.

And my original point is that you don't need to cheer for Walter White to watch this show. Hell, anybody cheering for Walt at this point is probably a sociopath.

And that is probably what makes this show so great and so hard to watch nowadays. They created some outstanding characters that we've invested a lot in and they didn't follow the standard TV character arc so they've become more disgusting instead of becoming more cool.

I do think Walter White and his madcap adventures have gotten more and more implausible as the series goes along but hey it's good television.